Resources

Below you will find a sampling of resources related to Philadelphia's global character and other international matters--background on civic initiatives, research findings, policy documents, and publications--as well as links to relevant sites.

The Immigration and Migration section of the Philadelphia Encyclopedia contains a number of valuable articles describing the different waves of immigration and groups of immigrants that have come to the area throughout the years.
http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/category/immigration-and-migration/

It’s hard to argue with how much technology is changing our lives. There’s an app for nearly everything now, and for international students studying in the U.S., they will surely make their experience living abroad much easier. Students who have just arrived should check out the following apps — most of which are available for both Apple devices and those that run on Google’s Android system.

English Literacy and Civics students will improve reading and writing skills while learning about U.S. Government, history, civics, and citizenship. Vocational ESL students will prepare for the U.S. workplace and receive support locating employment.

Inequality has become a universal concern. Differentials in access to opportunities, income, consumption,
location, information and technology are now the norm, not the exception. For the majority of people on the
planet, income disparities are greater today than they were a generation ago.
Read more here...

English may be spoken all over the world, but that doesn't mean it's the most popular language or that you're not missing out if you choose to associate exclusively with English speakers. Learning a new language can help tremendously with your career prospects, your college education and experiences, travel, and personal enjoyment of the arts and culture and it can just be fun.
Most people think that once they’ve left high school or college, their opportunity to learn a foreign language has passed, but this isn’t true.

As you walk pass the chumps taking off their belts and shoes in the TSA airport security line, past the harried travelers opening their laptops and waiting for the scans of their carry-ons to be completed, it's probably best if you just smile casually and skim your fingers across the brim of your fedora in a polite salute. You're headed for the express line.
The line lurkers will wonder: Is he a diplomat? Special forces? Government agent? Who could possibly qualify to skip the security checkpoint and stroll to their gate with such savoir-faire?

People of African descent have migrated to Philadelphia since the seventeenth century. First arriving in bondage, either directly from Africa or by way of the Caribbean, they soon developed a small but robust community that grew throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Although African Americans faced employment discrimination, disfranchisement, and periodic race riots in the 1800s, the community attracted tens of thousands of people during World War I’s Great Migration. Drawn by the promise of jobs during the two world wars, Philadelphia’s African Americans created one of the largest black communities in the urban North in the twentieth century. Deindustrialization and suburbanization from the post-World War II period to the early 2000s contributed to rising rates of poverty, racial tensions, and disinvestment in black neighborhoods, but the black community continued to attract new migrants.

It’s easy to print the Passport – or just a part of it! Download the Passport and Addendum pdf files below, and print it as you wish.
Depending on the printer you have, you can:
- print it in Colors or Black&White
- print the whole document or select the pages you need
- print 1 or 2 pages by paper sheet - for optimum readability, we recommend 1 page per document.
We hope you’ll enjoy the Passport, and that we’ll see you at some of the GlobalPhilly™ 2013 events that are listed there!

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia is a civic project to increase understanding of one of America’s greatest cities. From abolition and the American Revolution to yellow fever and zoos (with cheesesteaks, rowhouses, and hundreds of other topics in between), the digital Encyclopedia volume and its print volume will offer the most comprehensive, authoritative reference source ever created for the Philadelphia region.

The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) supports and undertakes research and provides a forum for debate on international migration. CMS carries out its mission in three ways: circulating books and monographs and publishing International Migration Review, a leading peer-reviewed scholarly journal specialized in the subject of international migration; organizing conferences and forums on international migration, including the National Legal Conference on Immigration and Refugee Policy; and maintaining an archive that collects and makes available documentation on the experiences of people in transit. The CMS webpage includes many reports detailing the Center's research.

Global Giving is an online marketplace that directly connects donors with grassroots projects in the developing world. Potential donors can browse and select from a wide offering of projects, organized by geography or by themes such as health care, the environment, and education. Once a donor chooses a project, he/she can contribute any amount, using a credit/debit card, check, PayPal, or stock transfer. Gift registries can be set up for special events, and donors can "give" any project as a gift.

LULAC Institute conducts research on a variety of important issues to the Hispanic community to both better inform the LULAC constituency and insure that LULAC's programs, services, and advocacy remain pertinent. This page includes a variety of research findings, policy recommendations, and reports pertinent to the Latin American community.

Country Commercial Guides (CCGs) are prepared annually by U.S. embassies with the assistance of several U.S. government agencies. These reports present a comprehensive look at countries' commercial environments, using economic, political and market analysis. To locate a CCG for a particular country or region, visit the Market Research Library portal. Enter as much information as you have, and select "Country Commercial Guide" under the "Report Type" menu.

In today’s increasingly interconnected world, how do we prepare our children – and ourselves – to succeed and to become happy, informed global citizens?

A mother of three, Homa Sabet Tavangar has 25+ years’ experience helping governments create the conditions to spur global competitiveness, advising businesses on how to thrive abroad, talking to parents on raising global citizens, and training K-12 to adult educators on building global competencies and bringing the world into their classrooms.

In 1972, UNESCO adopted the “Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage”, which provided for the inscription of natural or cultural sites on a “World Heritage List.” Numerous such sites have been inscribed on the list in succeeding decades, including a relatively modest number of sites in the United States. The sites in the U.S. have tended to be in the category of natural sites. One significant exception is Independence Hall.